It’s important that we follow the money and hold these people accountable.

If there’s something we find questionable or just don’t like, we need to raise the cry of alarm.

That’s what this post is intended to do.

I’m sure it’ll ruffle some feathers, but I don’t write on this site to make friends.

I write on it so you’re informed about the state you’re living in.

Let’s get started.

​HD 3 – Zac Perry and Taylor Rose (with a Libertarian thrown in)

Zac Perry is the incumbent here and he’s raised $8,981, spent $7,656 and has $1,324 left over.

Charter has given $170 to Perry.

He’s spent $2,027 on 14,500 mailers with Bozeman’s ArtCraft Printers and $4,500 with Billings’ MTS Mailing Service for 6 flights of mailers.

There is no campaign finance report for any period for the libertarian candidate.

Taylor Rose has raised $5,838 and has spent $1,910, leaving him with $3,927 in the bank.

His biggest PAC money comes from the Flathead Republicans, $350, and the Flathead County Republican Women’s Club, $850.

Besides that he’s received a lot of money from fellow Republicans.

His biggest expenditures have been $150 for a Daily Interlake ad, $170 for some t-shirts from a Kalispell company, $400 for 800 door hangers from a Kalispell company, and that’s about it.

​HD 12 – Greg Hertz and Susan Evans

Hertz is the GOP incumbent here and he’s raised $5,440 and has spent $2,538, leaving him with $2,900 left over.

He’s funneled campaign contributions off to Steve Gibson, and his son, Adam Hertz. Each got $160. He’s also given $250 to the Missoula GOP.

His big expenditure was with Billings’ the Political Company for 3,026 mailers with postage at $1,966.

For Susan Evans…well, she’s raised $683 and has $378 of that left. Most of her money came from the Lake County Democrats and she’s spent most on internet media ads, $250 worth.

Not much to see here.

​HD 21 – Hal Jacobson

Hal Jacobson has no opponent but that didn’t stop him from raising $3,000 and spending $1,200. He now has $1,800 left.

He took $100 from the Phillips 66 PAC. Besides that, not much to report.

​HD 48 – Jessica Karjala and Robert Saunders

Karjala has raised $17,000, has spent $4,400, and has $12,640 left in the bank.

Northwestern has only given her $100. Perhaps they think she might vote against them on something, so she didn’t get the usual $170.

She’s also received $170 from Carol’s List, MBWDA PAC, and MHA PAC…all out of Helena.

The thing with Karjala is that she’s got about $5,000 in campaign debt when she could have used cash.

I hate debt myself, perhaps because I’ve had so much of it over my life. Most of her expenses are for printing and postage and advertising.

With that much money you’d think she’d do some radio ads, but she hasn’t. It’ll be interesting to see what she does with the $7,000 she has left after the debts.

Robert Saunders doesn’t have a report up yet, or perhaps just didn’t bother to file one.

​HD 74 – Amanda Curtis

Despite having no opponent in either the primary or the general, Amanda Curtis raised $1,345 over the summer and spent $587. She now has $1,365 left in the bank.

The Treasure State PAC gave her $200.

Her largest expenditure was $250 to MailChimp to send out 20,000 emails. She also funneled $160 to Jessica Karjala.

​HD 75 – Sabrina Steketee and Kirk Wagoner

So confident is GOP-incumbent Wagoner that he’s only raised $15 for the general.

Didn’t anyone tell the guy you can’t use campaign funds to pay off your filing fee?

That’s a little political joke there, but what’s not a joke is how poorly Democrats continue to do when it comes to finding viable candidates in rural areas like the Boulder/Clancy region south of Helena that HD 75 is in.

Steketee filed on March 11…4 days before the deadline. Wagoner filed on January 14…the first day that filing began.

I think Dems knew this was a lost race for them before 2016 even got started.

Steketee hasn’t filed a report yet, and maybe won’t.

​HD 84 – Mary Ann Dunwell and Steve Gibson (with a Libertarian)

Dunwell has raised $25,000 for this race and she’s spent $13,000, leaving her with nearly $12,000 left.

Carol’s List, Steve Bullock’s PAC, Treasure State PAC, and various county committees make up most of her PAC money.

Dunwell has spent a lot on printing and mailing with Bozeman’s ArtCraft Printers and she’s spent $910 with Helena’s Cherry Creek Radio for a hundred 30-second ads.

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Montana Blogby Greg Strandberg

This Montana history blog is working its way up through time.It began in March 2013 with the early geology of Montana and continues on toward recent Montana history. Currently we're edging up into the 1990s.